Blood and urinary metabolomic evidence validating traditional Chinese medicine diagnostic classification of major depressive disorder

Table 2 Demographic and clinical characteristics of participants

Variables	Healthy controls (n = 28)	LQS subtype^a (n = 30)	HSD subtype^a (n = 20)	p value^b,c
Female, n (%)^b	17 (60.7)	25 (83.3)	10 (50.0)	0.035
Age (y)^c	34.1 ± 8.1	38.1 ± 13.4	41.5 ± 13.7	0.107
Educational level, n (%)^b				0.331
Primary	2 (7.1)	6 (20.0)	5 (25.0)
Middle	5 (17.9)	4 (13.3)	5 (25.0)
High^d	21 (75.0)	20 (66.7)	10 (50.0)
Marital status, n (%)^b				0.734
Married	23 (82.1)	26 (86.7)	18 (90.0)
Single/divorced/widowed	5 (17.9)	4 (13.3)	2 (10.0)
Income level, n (%)^b,e				0.775
Low	4 (14.3)	7 (23.3)	3 (15.0)
Middle	17 (60.7)	18 (60.0)	14 (70.0)
High	7 (25.0)	5 (16.7)	3 (15.0)
Family history with severe mental diseases, n (%)^b,f	3 (10.7)	4 (13.3)	0	0.250
Comorbid conditions, n (%)^b,g		3 (10)	4 (20)	0.560
Medication history, n (%)^b,h				0.803
SSRIs/SNRIs^a		25 (83.3)	18 (90.0)
Antipsychotics		5 (16.7)	2 (10.0)
Previous depressive episode, n (%)^b				0.684
Single		18 (60.0)	10 (50.0)
Multiple		12 (40.0)	10 (50.0)
Duration of the illness (months)^c,i		39.5 ± 60.9	33.6 ± 47.8	0.716
HAMD-24 score^a,c		32.5 ± 8.5	30.1 ± 6.5	0.286

^a LQS Liver Qi Stagnation, HSD Heart and Spleen Deficiency, SSRIs selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SNRIs serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, HAMD-24 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression
^b Categorical data was analyzed using Chi square (χ²) test
^c Continuous data are expressed mean ± SD and analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the three groups and Student t-test for LQS and HSD subtypes
^d High levels included high school, college, and postgraduate education
^e Compared to average local household incomes
^f Severe mental diseases mainly included schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and severe depression
^g Most comorbid conditions were cardiovascular and diabetic diseases
^h SSRIs mainly included paroxetine, sertraline, citalopram, and fluoxetine. SNRIs mainly include venlafaxine and duloxetine. Antipsychotics mainly include quetiapine, olanzapine, and risperidone. All medications were taken earlier than 3 months ago at screening
ⁱ Duration of the illness was calculated from the first episode of depression

ISSN: 1749-8546